Robust distribution of ip timing signals
AssigneeDisney Enterprises, Inc.
InventorsCraig L. Beardsley, Jerome G. Liscano, Michael J. Strein, Carl A. Brown, Nishith Shah, Benjamin H. Kepler
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Abstract
Embodiments disclosed herein provide techniques to selectively distribute Precision Time Protocol (PTP) data in a network. The network can include multiple different network devices (e.g., switches) connected to form a network architecture (e.g., a spine/leaf architecture). Rather than distributing the PTP data (e.g., PTP timestamps) through all the network devices in order to synchronize local clocks to a global, master clock, the embodiments herein describe an out-of-band distribution network which selectively distributes the PTP data to select network devices in the network.
Claims20
A network, comprising:
- a plurality of Precision Time Protocol (PTP)-enabled switches communicatively coupled to a plurality of media nodes;
- a plurality of non-PTP-enabled switches communicatively coupled to the plurality of PTP-enabled switches;
- and
- an out-of-band PTP distribution network communicatively coupled to the plurality of PTP-enabled switches, the out-of-band PTP distribution network comprising:
- a master clock device configured to generate a master clock, and
- a transparent clock switch, wherein the transparent clock switch is communicatively coupled between the master clock device and the plurality of PTP-enabled switches, wherein the transparent clock switch measures a transit delay, and inserts the transit delay, into PTP packets exchanged between the master clock device and the plurality of PTP-enabled switches,
- wherein the plurality of PTP-enabled switches is configured to transmit only non-PTP signals to the plurality of non-PTP-enabled switches.
An out-of-band distribution network, comprising:
- a PTP-enabled switch;
- a master clock device configured to generate a master clock;
- and
- a transparent clock switch communicatively coupled between the master clock device and the PTP-enabled switch, wherein the transparent clock switch measures a transit delay, and inserts the transit delay, into PTP packets exchanged between the master clock device and the PTP-enabled switch,
- wherein the PTP-enabled switch is communicatively coupled to a non-PTP-enabled switch and transmits only non-PTP traffic to the non-PTP-enabled switch.
A method, comprising:
- providing a plurality of Precision Time Protocol (PTP)-enabled switches communicatively coupled to a plurality of media nodes and a plurality of non-PTP-enabled switches communicatively coupled to the plurality of PTP-enabled switches;
- providing an out-of-band PTP distribution network communicatively coupled to the plurality of PTP-enabled switches, the out-of-band PTP distribution network comprising a master clock device configured to generate a master clock and a transparent clock switch, wherein the transparent clock switch is communicatively coupled between the master clock device and the plurality of PTP-enabled switches;
- measuring a transit delay using the transparent clock switch;
- inserting, using the transparent clock switch, the transit delay into PTP packets exchanged between the master clock device and the plurality of PTP-enabled switches;
- and
- transmitting only non-PTP signals from the plurality of PTP-enabled switches to the plurality of non-PTP-enabled switches.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.